Social Democratic Party of Rwanda

The Social Democratic Party of Rwanda (PSD) is a social democratic political party in Rwanda that was founded on 1 July 1991 by Felicien Gatabazi and Frederic Nzamurambaho. The party was founded by several intellectuals who opposed Juvenal Habyarimana's dictatorship, and the party was the only party that Habyarimana had failed to split. Rwandan Armed Forces leader Theonesete Bagosora had the PSD leadership massacred on the first day of the Rwandan Genocide (7 April 1994) to create a power vacuum in order to facilitate his rise to power. At the end of the genocide, the PSD formed a national unity government with Paul Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front, and the party held 7/80 Chamber of Deputies seats in 2017.